Dredging apparatus for bars



(No Model.)

2 sheets-sheen 1.

R. f D. HUMB. DREDGING' APPARATUS-FOB. BARS. No. 264,950.

Patented Sept. 2.6.1882.

N, Pains. Pmwmmgnpher, wmngmn. n. c

(No Model.) @Sheets-Sheet 2. R. D. HUME.

DREDGING APPARATUS POR BARS.

No. 264,950. Patented Sept. 26, 1882.

N FAN To all whom it may concern:

UNITED y STATES PATENT CEETCE. i

ROBERT D. HUME, CF SAN FRANCISCO, CAIilFCR-NIA.

DREDGIN'G. APPARATUS FOR BARS.

SPECIFICATION formingA part of Letters Patent No. 264,950, dated September 26, 1882.

` Application filed May 16, 1882. (No model.)

Be it known4 that I, ROBERT D. HUME, of the city and county of San Francisco, State ot' California, have invented an Improved Dred ging Apparatus for Bars; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to an apparatus for dredging or clearing away bars, such as most frequently form at the mouths of harbors, estuaries, and the mouths of rivers which empty into the sea and it consists in acombination and larrangement of devices, as hereinafter de scribed, and specitically pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure lis a side elevation, showing a bar with my apparatus anchored at one side and operated from abarge at the other. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the engine mounted upon a car on the shore. Fig. 3 is a view showing the drag operated from barges anchored on opposite sides of the bar. Fig. 4 is a section showing a shore attachment for one end of the rope and a barge for the opposite` end. Fig. 5 is a plan view, showing the railway and shore attachment.

Many useful small harbors and river-mouths uponthe coast are obstructed by bars which Y would not warrant removal byexpensive means.

These bars form at various short distances outside or just at the mouths of the harbor or estuary, and in many cases these estuaries are turned so as to run for a considerable distance parallel with and just inside the beach before discharging into the sea. In such casesmy apparatus may be conveniently worked from the shore opposite to the mouth, as will be hereinafter described.

In carrying out my invention I use a drag of any suitable shape, size,and weight. In the present case I have shown it to be ot' an yegg shape, as at A, and armed with knives, spikes, teeth, or any suitable projections which will diginto and loosen up the material. This drag is attached to or connected with a wire cable, B. When the water is shallow, or the distance between the anchorages of the ends of the cable considerable, it may be connected directly with the cable;but if the water is or drum, D, which is anchored according to the character of the place. lf a rough open roadstead, the pulley may be fixed to a support, E, which is anchored, as at F, so as to be held rmly in place, and at the same time keep the pulley sufficiently raised from the ground to prevent its being covered with sand, or otherwise fouled. In some cases it may be found preferable to fix this pulley to a barge, Cr, which is anchored outside the bar. From this pulley the rope or cable passes'inward toward the shore and around a driving pulley or drum, H, which is connected with an engine. This engine is supported in various ways. If the baris distant from the shore, or if it is otherwise not feasible to have the engine ashore, a barge may be anchored in the proper position, and the rope then passes around the pulleys D and II, having the drag A connected with one part ot it', so that by rotating the driving-drum in one direction and then the other the drag will be moved back andHfOrward across the bar, gradually cutting it away,

vso that the tid-e or current will carry it away.

' posite the mouth. ln thelatter case a railway,

I, maybe laid, having a curve or radius of which the outer anchorage is the center. Upon this railway a car, J, is placed, having the engine K and-driving-drum H mounted upon it. This car may then be moved along the track at intervals, so that the drag can be operated over different portions of the bar from end to end, and thus clear it all away.

IOO

1t will be seen that various modications of the apparatus may be made to suit different circumstances Without affecting the operation materially. -In difticult harbors the cable may also be employed to tow barges or vessels out to a safe distance by detaching it from the drag and connecting it vto the vessel.

By this construction I am enabled to clear away bars in a cheap and eflicient manner..

I am aware that drags have been towed across shoal places or bars by tugs or other vessels; but this method can only be employed where 4there is already water enough for the vessel, and in cornlmrativelyr calm water.

My invention may be used in the shoalest and roughest water.

Having thus described my inventiomwbat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

an anchored pulley-carrying device, said pulley adapted to sustain an endless cable, B,

said cable driving machinery provided with pulley H, and an intervening drag, A, adapted to bey moved back and forth over the obstruction4 to be removed, substantially as set forth. 2. The drag A, the operating rope or cable C, and the xed or anchored pulley D, in combination with a track or tramway, I, the car J, upon which is mounted the engine K, and the driving-pulley H, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

In witness whereot1 I have hereunto set my hand.

ROBERT DENISTON HUME. Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, G. W. EMERSON. 

